A Woman Like Me by Diane Abbott: 'curiously bloodless' or a memoir to 'inspire'?

Readers seeking "juicy political gossip" won't find it in Diane Abbott's memoir, "A Woman Like Me", said Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian. But "whatever you make" of Britain's first Black female MP, her "absorbing" new book reveals a lifetime of "astonishing resilience".

From the "overtly racist Britain of her childhood" to the many rejections she "battled through" before eventually winning the Hackney seat for Labour in 1987, Abbott's "rich and complex" memoir offers a "fascinating insight" into everything she overcame to become the "flawed but compelling" politician she is today.

'Booze-free Christmas'

She writes with "empathy and nuance" about her "complex" upbringing in what was at the time a "very white suburban Harrow", and her relationship with her "domineering and oppressive" father. And she's "kind but very funny" when revisiting her short-lived romance with Jeremy Corbyn, painting a humorous picture of a "booze-free Christmas" at his family's "freezing" home and his surprise idea for a "hot date" at Karl Marx's grave.

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But while she's witty and "candid" about their early relationship, Abbott is "much less willing" to tackle Corbyn's "flaws as leader", said Rachel Sylvester in The Times. There is "little contrition" over the allegations of antisemitism, and she suggests he was "hounded out" of his role by "enemies in the party".

The book lacks "deep reflection" on what went wrong for Labour under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, added Hinsliff in The Guardian, and "more surprisingly", it's "light on concrete achievements". Abbott talks a lot about what drew her to politics and what she believes in, but there is "less about what she actually did".

'Appalling abuse'

Perhaps most "powerful" of all is the section that shines a light on the "appalling abuse" Abbott receives on a daily basis, said Sylvester in The Times. In the six weeks before the 2017 election, for example, she received ten times more abusive tweets than any other female MP. Despite the vitriol, she has, in her words, somehow "refused to let myself be driven out of politics".

The "defiant" title of her autobiography "slyly mocks" the critics who have tirelessly "belittled her" throughout her 37-year-career, said Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on the i news site. And while the tone feels a little "flat" in the early chapters, it's not long before "she's back, passionate and irrepressible" – the facets of her personality that both "get her into trouble and empower her to crash through barrier after barrier".

As well as addressing her detractors, she also reveals a network of "close allies and fond lovers", including her fling with a married TV exec who helped to get her a job as a TV researcher. "This fun, sensual side of the MP will surprise readers."

'Honesty and grace'

While these moments of "wry humour" are "refreshing", said Judith Woods in The Telegraph, it's a "curiously bloodless" memoir that "lacks the fire" readers will expect from the trailblazing MP.

Abbott may have been "channelling dignified restraint", but "A Woman Like Me" "reads like a rush job, written and published in haste" – and the "blistering indignation" that once marked her as a "star in the making" is largely missing.

I disagree, said Alibhai-Brown on the i news site. Her book serves as a "powerful reminder of what it takes to be Diane Abbott": a "flawed, intelligent Black woman that would never let the bastards keep her down". Written with "honesty and grace", it will "inspire many".